The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1916. THE FOOD PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1916. THE FOOD PROBLEM.

It will be seen by late cables from the Mother Country that Britain is at last thoroughly aroused to the seriousness of the food problem. The liscussion in the House of Commons 0:1 this vital subject cannot fail tc be of great interest throughout the dominions, for it is to them that Britain and her Allies look for supplies, and it will in the future be a most pressing duty on the part of the dominions to produce the utmost in their power in order to supply the Allied forcos with food, and prevent prices in the Homeland rising to famine height. The question was brought up in the House of Commons by Mr. W. A. S. Lewins, who tabled a motion calling on the Government to adopt further methods of organisation to increase the national food supply, and so diminish the risk ot shortage in the event of the War being prolonged. Britain being very largely, dependent on the dominions for wheat, meat, butter, cheese and other foodstuffs, has two problems to work out satisfactorily before her food supply is placed on a proper basis. She must commandeer the produce at reasonable prices, and provide adequate means of transport. It is these ttto points that form the basis of successfully overcoming a great national peril, but connected therewith is the equally important methodical distribution of food supplies and the imperative necessity for economy and prevention of waste. The Labor representative, Mr. Wardle, in welcoming the proposals of the Government, placed his finger on the cause from which the present position has sprung. In expressing the opinion that the country's re sources ought to have been organised at the outbreak of war, instead of pressure of circumstances compelling the Government to organise first one vital activity and then another, he struck at the rooi of the evil. It is, however, no use dwelling on the sins of omission and commission in the past. It is the needs of the present and future that demand attention, and it is a great Telief to know that the British Government realises the dangers ahead, and just as they have secured a worJiy army.- adequate munition* find <<>,!' the fights' • li'"" <>■ ■ . ■ .iii and under

( ...w be trusted t • i; ... U..1 1 port and other , i " • no.v tackling in I'll,. I'les.iur.t of the Board h. v sulmUa Hint the strain Britain i vi,' to hear in 1817 will primarily .levied with food supplies, but van the dominions' output available caere is no need for anxiety, always provided there are ample shipping facilities. Part of the Government's .plan has been to commandeer merchant shipping, but of equal, if not greater, importance is the speeding up of the building of new ships, a work to which the Government intends to devote its energies. Russia . regards this new construction programme as the most important point of the shipping problem. There are to be no spasmodic and disjointed operations, but, the shipment of wheat for the Allies is to be regarded as one problem to be dealt with by one requisitioned fleet. In fact, there is to be the same thoroughness of method as was evinced over the munitions problem. To assist in a speedy output of new vessels there is to be a pooling of engineering effort, skilled workers being brought back from the front —a course which emphasises all too pointedly the slackness of the past. The appointment of a food controller. to co-ordinate activities, to ensure economy, to prevent waste and possibly to issue tickets, proves that the authorities fully realise the need for drastic action. In the face of these exceptional operations it would seem to be the duty of the people of the dominions to exercise appreciable economies in food in order that there may be the more to spare for the people of the Homeland, and there is just as great a need to prevent the exploitation of the people of New Zealand by traders as in Britain. We all recognise that the war must go on until the Central Powers are thoroughly and finally defeated, and it is only prudent to conserve our resources to the uttermost in view of its prolongation. By Hie dominions acting in concert with the Imperial' Government seems to be tli« only way of seeing the war through so far as the important question of ensuring food supplies is concerned.